Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.7.32

indra uvāca

idam apy acyuta viśva-bhāvanaḿ

vapur ānanda-karaḿ mano-dṛśām

sura-vidviṭ-kṣapaṇair udāyudhair

bhuja-daṇḍair upapannam aṣṭabhiḥ

SYNONYMS

indraḥ uvāca — King Indra said; idam — this; api — certainly; acyuta — O infallible one; viśva-bhāvanam — for the welfare of the universe; vapuḥ — transcendental form; ānanda-karam — a cause of pleasure; manaḥ-dṛśām — to the mind and the eye; sura-vidviṭ — envious of Your devotees; kṣapaṇaiḥ — by punishment; ud-āyudhaiḥ — with uplifted weapons; bhuja-daṇḍaiḥ — with arms; upapannam — possessed of; aṣṭabhiḥ — with eight.

TRANSLATION

King Indra said: My dear Lord, Your transcendental form with eight hands and weapons in each of them appears for the welfare of the entire universe, and it is very pleasing to the mind and eyes. In such a form, Your Lordship is always prepared to punish the demons, who are envious of Your devotees.

PURPORT

It is generally understood from revealed scriptures that Lord Viṣṇu appears with four hands, but in this particular sacrificial arena Lord Viṣṇu arrived with eight hands. King Indra said, "Even though we are accustomed to see Your four-handed Viṣṇu form, this appearance with eight hands is as real as the four-handed form." As Lord Brahmā had said, to realize the transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the power of the senses. In reply to that statement by Brahmā, King Indra said that even though the transcendental form of the Lord is not perceivable by the material senses, His activities and His transcendental form can be understood. The Lord's uncommon features, uncommon activities and uncommon beauty can be perceived even by an ordinary man. For example, when Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared just like a six- or seven-year-old boy in Vṛndāvana, He was approached by the residents there. There were torrents of rain, and the Lord saved the residents of Vṛndāvana by lifting Govardhana Hill and resting it on the little finger of His left hand for seven days. This uncommon feature of the Lord should convince even materialistic persons who want to speculate to the limit of their material senses. The activities of the Lord are pleasing to experimental vision also, but impersonalists will not believe in His identity because they study the personality of the Lord by comparing their personality to His. Because men in this material world cannot lift a hill, they do not believe that the Lord can lift one. They accept the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be allegorical, and they try to interpret them in their own way. But factually the Lord lifted the hill in the presence of all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, as corroborated by great ācāryas and authors like Vyāsadeva and Nārada. Everything about the Lord — His activities, pastimes and uncommon features — should be accepted as is, and in this way, even in our present condition, we can understand the Lord. ln the instance herein, King Indra confirmed: "Your presence with eight hands is as good as Your presence with four hands." There is no doubt about it.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness